CONTACT INFO

The Los Angeles Bi Task Force (LABTF) is a non-profit organization that promotes education, advocacy, and cultural enrichment for the bisexual/fluid/pansexual communities in the Los Angeles area, and aims to develop a future bi resource center.

The Los Angeles Bi Task Force (LABTF) is super excited to release our Los Angeles Bisexual/Pansexual/Fluid Community Needs Assessment! We’re aiming to gather data on the community’s current social, cultural, psychological, medical, and political needs in order to provide information to local bisexual, LGBT, and mainstream groups and agencies on how to better serve our community. The results will be published in a report later this year.

The survey is completely confidential, takes 15-20 minute to complete, and participants will be eligible to enter a drawing for a $25 gift card to Amazon.com. Since we’re targeting the Greater LA Area, we encourage individuals from LA as well as our neighbors in Orange County, Riverside, San Bernadino, and Ventura Counties to complete the survey.

On the heels of the Bisexual Roundtable at the White House in 2013 and the Bisexual Resource Center recently proclaiming March “Bisexual Health Awareness Month,” the Los Angeles Bisexual Task Force (LABTF) releases its “March 2014 – 31 Days of Bi Wellness Calendar!” The bisexual community, which includes pansexual, fluid, queer, and other non-monosexual self-identified people, is truly an underrepresented and underserved population, as it continues to face social stigma, discrimination, and erasure, despite recent statistics showing that the bisexual community makes up the largest subgroup within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population.

LABTF, founded in 2008 and a non-profit since 2010, has created this one-of-a-kind calendar to serve both as a personal and public tool to shed light on the many health disparities affecting the bisexual community, including higher rates of hypertension, risky drinking, depression, anxiety, intimate partner violence, and suicidality. This handy calendar also serves to promote the many existing local and national bisexual organizations and resources available to community members and allies, and to advocate for increased research and programs specifically addressing the bisexual community. Feel free to print, post, and distribute this calendar to friends and colleagues!

Los Angeles Bi Task Force is excited to announce two new appointments to our Steering Committee: Cadyn Cathers and Ofelia del Corazon. Both are highly accomplished for being so young. Cadyn is program coordinator at Antioch University, holds several other part-time positions, and is completing requirements for an MFT license (marriage and family therapy). He was instrumental in the successful TranSolidarity, a recent event in LA.

Ofelia describes herself as a “macho femme who likes to tell stories and organize events”. She co-founded the TG Film Fest: The Los Angeles Transgender Film Festival, a project of the Trans/Giving art collective. Ofelia is a community organizer and sex educator with tons of networking contacts around the U.S.

See the Steering Committee page for more information about these awesome additions to our leadership team.

The Los Angeles Bi Task Force commends President Obama’s declaration of support for marriage equality. The first U.S. President to openly endorse same-sex marriage, he described his views on an ABC interview Wednesday night.

“I have to tell you that over the course of several years, as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships – same-sex relationships – who are raising kids together; when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” said the President.

We especially applaud President Obama for taking a stand for same-sex couples even though he is not a part of one, which underscores the foundation of equality for all, despite majority rule. While there is still much work to be done in achieving full sexual and gender equality, we thank President Obama for taking a stand on equal rights for people who want to marry the person they love regardless of gender.

Current Research on Bisexuality—Identity, Attractions, Attitudes, Relationships, and Well-Being

Session ID:

1240

Session Type:

Symposium

Division(s):

44, 9, 17, 35, 42, 56

Building:

San Diego Convention Center

Room Description:

Room 31C

Room Location:

Upper Level

Day/Time:

Thu/1:00PM – 2:50PM

CE Credit: 2 hours. (There are no additional fees to attend CE sessions; however, there is a processing fee to claim CE credits. Member–$30, Nonmember–$40. Instructions for claiming CE credit for selected sessions are available on page 36.)

Bi / Fluid Pride is in 2 weeks and we are up to 26 marchers!! Please join us (and bring a friend) so we can have an even bigger contingent! And if you can’t march, at least cheer us on from the sidelines and then come to the After-Party! Please note that the After-Party is at 909 Palm Ave, not 808 Palm Ave.

We also need a photographer and videographer for the parade.

LABTF has one more planning meeting (June 2nd) before the Parade – come if you want to be involved!

A Conversation with Mimi Hoang

Please join us for a conversation about bisexual activism, politics, and communities in the Los Angeles area, with our special guest Dr. Mimi Hoang.

Mimi Hoang, Ph.D., is an out bi psychologist, researcher, educator, community organizer, and activist. She is currently the Chair of the Los Angeles Bi Task Force, which focuses on educational, cultural, and advocacy programs for the bi/fluid/pansexual community. Dr. Hoang also co-organized the Bi/Fluid Pride contingents at LA Pride in 2008 and 2009 and was the Bi Advisory Board Chair for ‘Ohana House/Asian Pacific Islanders for Human Rights, and co-founded and chaired 2 bi social organizations — AMBI (A Meeting of Bi Individuals) and Fluid UCLA. She completed a dissertation study on bi identity and has conducted numerous lectures and workshops on bisexuality at conferences, universities, and community agencies. Dr. Hoang currently works as a Clinical Psychologist at Cal State LA and is passionate about the mental health needs of multicultural and underprivileged communities.

Are you interested in learning more before the conversation? Check out the Los Angeles Bi Task Force’s website at http://www.labtf.org/, watch the documentary “Bi The Way,” or read Bisexuality: The Psychology and Politics of an Invisible Minority, by Beth Firestein, Ph.D., or The Bisexual’s Guide to the Universe: Quips, Tips, and Lists for Those Who Go Both Ways, By Nicole Kristal and Mike Szymanski. But please don’t feel you need to “do homework” to come and participate!

Please invite all of your friends who might be interested! This event is free and open to the public. Visitor parking on the Cal State Northridge campus costs $6.00.

We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of a dear friend and Bi/LGBT community member, Thomas/Theo Provost. He was a member of the LA Bi Center planning and AMBI steering committees. He was also a LABL moderator, a past facilitator of the Long Beach Bi Chat Group, and a charter member of Speak Out! Toastmasters. We will take some time to honor his memory and celebrate his contributions at the upcoming Bi Holiday Party this Saturday, December 12th, as well as at the next AMBI social on Saturday, January 2nd, 2010.

For more information about these two events, please visit the following websites: